[OS:N:] A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools

["Frye, Matthew" <Matthew Frye rexhealth com>]

As we think about open source advocacy, it's important to foster
adoption/implementation at the most basic level: channeling development to
match needs.  An example of this is the way that open source has been used
for collaboration, especially in academia and political campaigns/grass
roots communities.  

The article "A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools" by Eugene Eric Kim
<eekim blueoxen org>, http://www.blueoxen.org/papers/0000D/, discusses the
problems that collaboration tools currently face and some potential
solutions.  An excerpt:

"The problem with usability is not a lack of good ideas; it's that most of
these ideas never make it into real applications. There are many reasons for
this, from organizational shortsightedness to the vagaries of the
marketplace. As frustrating and as uncontrollable as these factors may be,
the onus for changing the situation is on both the researchers who develop
these ideas and the programmers who implement them. Open source software
offers an excellent and underutilized avenue for disseminating innovations
in user interface. Researchers should be writing plugins for widely-used
open source applications, such as the Mozilla Web browser, instead of
developing prototypes from scratch. Open source developers should be
scouring academic publications for ideas, rather than simply duplicating the
user interfaces in commercial products. "

Hope it makes you think,
Matt Frye

----- Confidentiality Notice -----
This e-mail and any attached documents contain confidential information belonging to the sending entity, Rex Healthcare, and is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity(s) associated with the recipient addresses listed in the message header.  The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance on the contents of the email and/or attachments is strictly prohibited.  If you received this e-mail transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately to arrange for return or destruction of this information.

To report abuse or inappropriate use, please email abuse rexhealth com